Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Khôn cho người ta rái, dại cho người ta thương

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Be smart for others' benefit, be foolish for their sympathy

Literally: Be clever for people to fear, be stupid for people to love

Examples

Anh ấy khôn cho người ta rái, dại cho người ta thương nên mọi người rất quý trọngHe is smart for others' benefit, foolish for their sympathy, so people appreciate him very much

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Headword listed in the vdict.com proverb dictionary index (discovery source; headword only — no source content copied). Entered as candidate 2026-08-05; definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-06; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Khôn cho người ta rái, dại cho người ta thương” mean?

Be smart for others' benefit, be foolish for their sympathy Literally: Be clever for people to fear, be stupid for people to love

Is “Khôn cho người ta rái, dại cho người ta thương” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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